Silver Rain
by SealSong
Summary: The fan-fiction of the Digital Devil Saga forum. Features the fan-tribe, the Cohort. Rated 'M' for later violence and language.
1. Silver Rain

_Silver Rain – The Cohort _

_Digital Devil Saga_

_Digital Devil Saga, the scenario minus any original characters, and any canon characters, are © to Atlus  
Yulia/Garuda is © to myself  
Kaamos/Pandemonium is © Drcheerio of Deviantart  
Shiv/Morrigan is © Dimitrininjasan of Deviantart  
Jed/Vakirauta is © to his player  
All original characters not of my creation are used with express permission_

_  
Chapter One – Rain _

The rain sheeted from the sky, as though some divinity had decided to wash away the world below. A steady drumbeat of rain against worked stone accompanied the eternal mid-light, the water flashing silver where it raced past the faint glow of artificial light. It splashed into pools, ran through cracks in the stone, and still it fell, anything it touched seeming to share its silver luminescence. Beneath the eave of a low built building, within the feeble light cast by a lamp tinted grey, stood the overseer of this domain, the defender of this territory, its longstanding leader. Wrapped in a cloak the colours of aged rubble, dust, and stone, deep hood obscuring the details of the face, goggles fixed over the eyes, the leader watched the rain, the eternal silver rain, and sighed. The rain never ceased, but today it seemed to fall harder, with a vengeance. It would make the usual scouting and trapping more difficult, but the tribe members knew their work; there would be no intruders, no challengers to their right to this place. Bezaid was theirs. It always had been, and always would. The leader turned sharply as footsteps approached, the rain kicked up in the newcomer's wake sloshing back to the ground in flashing silver. Like the leader, the newcomer to this jolly jaunt of rain-watching was swathed in a camo-cloak, with red-tinted goggles over the eyes, and, like the leader, the clothes were marked with matt silver. Their colour, the tribe's colour; none not bearing the Cohort silver had ever gained this deep into Bezaid. The newcomer jerked their head before speaking in a habitual whisper. The Cohort lived by the shadows and the ambush.

"You're going to ruin another pair of boots if you insist on standing in puddles, boss."

The 'Boss' grinned even though the expression mostly hidden by the hood and cloak, though it seemed the newcomer saw it anyway.

"It's worth it to make sure the new recruits are kept on their toes. They think I'm breathing down their necks, they're less likely to be sloppy."

The voice was feminine, though roughened by years of shouting commands over gunfire, and held a distinct edge of command. One who spoke and expected to be obeyed instantly. On closer inspection, one who knew for what to look would see a compassionate leader, one who fought and bled with her men, but on the surface, one saw only a warrior.

Jed, the newcomer, snorted, and jerked his head at one of the 'new recruits', barely visible hunched under his cloak atop the roof, sitting out his unenviable shift of watch duty.

"He's watching you more than he's watching the roads. He's going to get a mighty neck ache if he keeps doin' that."

Jed fixed his gaze on the scout until the newbie abashedly turned back to watching for enemies through the scope of a rifle.

"Hah, still got the killer gaze, Jed."

The wiry scout shrugged, the motion muffled and subdued by the cloak.

"Ah, someone's gotta keep the new 'ns from screwing up. Not why I came here, though. Kaamos was lookin' for you. Says he's made a new trap he wants your opinion on."

A bob of her head, and the leader turned to go. Jed, still looking at the new scout, smiled very slightly.

"Don't get your fingers near it, boss. You won't be too good at your knife-tricks with half yer hand missing."

A cocked eyebrow, quirking her goggles on one side, and she moved past in a whisper of her cloak.


	2. Gifting

_Silver Rain – The Cohort _

_Digital Devil Saga_

_Digital Devil Saga, the scenario minus any original characters, and any canon characters, are © to Atlus  
Yulia/Garuda is © to myself  
Kaamos/Pandemonium is © Drcheerio of Deviantart  
Shiv/Morrigan is © Dimitrininjasan of Deviantart  
Jed/Vakirauta is © to his player  
All original characters not of my creation are used with express permission_

_  
Chapter Two – Gifting _

Kaamos looked up, his white eyes gleaming with disapproval, even in the dim lamplight, as his leader stepped down the few stairs to his lab, dripping water everywhere. When she reached where he sat at a desk, Yulia gave the trapper a small, unapologetic smile. Kaamos did so hate it when people dripped water all over the floor of his lair.

"I hear you have a new trap for me, Kaamos."

Kaamos sighed dramatically, and turned back to gesture at a rather nasty looking assembly of blades and wires.

"Well, hopefully not you, boss. I hear trapping your own leader is a heinous crime. Nope, this'n's gonna really bite someone in the ass." He chuckled. Right out loud, not the hushed, almost strangled laughter of a Cohort Stealther. Kaamos was a master of trap warfare. He was somewhat lacking in the art of the silent kill, but there had been many a time where his traps had prevented intruders from gaining even an inch into Bezaid. So, he was a valued, trusted, comrade. Yulia smiled, and flicked a finger at the trap, careful not to get anything she valued anywhere near it.

"Dare I ask how it works?"

Kaamos rubbed his hands together with glee, and, eyes bright; he took a deep breath, preparing to launch into singing the praises of his new toy.

He never got the chance.

Kaamos' face fell, crestfallen, as footfalls sounded unnaturally (for a Cohort, meaning they'd be normal sounding from any outsider) loudly down the stairs towards them. Suddenly, Shiv, his hair stark red against his pale skin and drab cloak, shoved his head through the door.

"Boss, shit's hit the fan. The Embryon and the Vanguards were scrappin', and then…"

Yulia spared a frown for her second-in-command. Shiv wasn't one to waste time with gossip. Usually.

"This had better end with both Serph and Harley in tiny pieces."

Shiv didn't even flinch, instead plunging on with his news. Yulia schooled her expression. If he wasn't detoured by a frown and a wry comment, then this was important.

"…Somethin' crazy 'appened."

But she couldn't ask what. A burning, stabbing, twisting pain in her neck blocked all words, stoppered all breath. She fumbled at the clasps of her cloak, wrenching it back from her throat. Her skin was burning, soon there would be nothing left, the heat was so intense, and why couldn't she feel the burning when she clenched a hand to her throat? Surely her flesh must be aflame; was this some misfire of one of Kaamos' traps? Without consciously remembering doing so, she had fallen to her knees, rasping for air, her vision dimming, tunnelling. To her horror, she heard a pained, frantic groan, and realised it was her own voice. In pure panic, she looked for Kaamos and Shiv. Then she found them; they must be those blurred forms beside her…Kaamos flailing at the back of his own neck, Shiv gritting his teeth, grasping at his right hand. What was this?!

But then oblivion laid claim to her mind, and she couldn't help but feel relieved.


	3. Marking

_Silver Rain – The Cohort _

_Digital Devil Saga_

_Digital Devil Saga, the scenario minus any original characters, and any canon characters, are © to Atlus  
Yulia/Garuda is © to myself  
Kaamos/Pandemonium is © Drcheerio of Deviantart  
Shiv/Morrigan is © Dimitrininjasan of Deviantart  
Jed/Vakirauta is © to his player  
All original characters not of my creation are used with express permission_

_Chapter Three – Marking _

This was worse than waking up the night after Shiv and Jed unveiled their homebrew and erringly declared it 'the best booze this side of Nirvana'. Yulia opened her eyes to slits, and immediately regretted it. Since when had the lights become so damn bright? Were they designed to stab right into folk's eyes or what? Was it some new defence mechanism she hadn't been appraised of?

"Kaamos…If I find you've been tinkerin' with the bloody lights I'll…I'll…be cross. So damned cross…Just…Don't run too fast…My wrath is righteous…"

Ouch. Some mean bugger had replaced the lining of her throat with glass, scorpions, and sandpaper. She wasn't even sure if Kaamos could've heard her…She suddenly sat up, willing the woozy, sick feeling on her stomach to recede, forcing the headache away with pure will alone. Next came opening her eyes, so she could actually see. Though they watered and threatened to reinforce the headache so that it could make a comeback, she managed to get a look. Even though her eyesight was blurry from pain, she could see two forms, stirring weakly, each emitting enough cursing to let her know that each was alive and in the same situation as her. The wave of relief almost swamped the walls of will that held pain in check, but Yulia hadn't held her tribe together this long by being weak-willed. Now that she knew they were alright, now was the time to find out what the bloody hell had happened.

If they knew, which she doubted. Maybe it was time to let Shiv finish his story, Yulia mused, mentally shaking a fist at both the Embryon and the Vanguards. If those bastards had given her this headache, then come hell or high water, she'd take them down.

Though, cruel logic then pointed out to her that it was highly unlikely that neither the Embryon nor the Vanguards could really have managed this. Sometimes, logic made life harder than it had to be.

"Shiv…I think you'd best finish that report…"

Shiv sat up, smoothing one hand through his hair, running his tongue over his teeth.

"Meh… Like that time Jed and I..."

Kaamos sat up, his eyes looking slightly crossed. Nobody felt much like standing, so they all sat where they were. The trapper looked at the sniper wryly.

"…That time you and Jed made that god-awful hooch?"

Shiv winced.

"Yeah, that time."

Yulia frowned, and then revised the expression to be slightly less forceful at the pain in her head.

"I made that association already. Get done with the damn report already."

The sniper flinched, more likely from a new report of pain then anything Yulia said. She never got any respect.

"…Where was I? Oh, yeah…Well, the Oranges and the Greens were fighting it out, over at one o' the borders between their lands." Some Cohort referred to rival tribes simply by their colour, rather then the tribe's name. No-one really knew why. "And then, something just landed between them."

Yulia held up a hand to forestall him. She tried to bully her memory into working, but it seemed to have become resilient to her prodding.

"Who did we have out there?"

Kaamos blinked, his pale eyes looking bloodshot.

"We had someone out there? Why? We weren't planning to raid either of 'em, were we?"

Yulia scrubbed at her blue hair where it had gotten stuck to her face as she'd laid on it.

"We had some new blood to age, and figured it'd be best to send 'em out to keep an eye on our weakest rivals. Just my brain won't cooperate, and I can't remember who."

Shiv made a face.

"Too important to remember the newbies, eh boss? No worries; I can do it for you. And I did. We had Neith and Inhuris out there, with Shiro as their leader."

Yulia closed her eyes for a bit. The light was starting to hurt again; but more from fatigue then the sudden black-out.

"So, they got back alright." If they hadn't, Shiv would've told her right away. "OK. What happened after this thing landed?"

Shiv shivered, and rubbed at the back of his right hand with the left, darting glances about him.

"A light spread over everyone, and they all blacked out. And then…" He shivered again. Something he'd heard, spooking Shiv? This made Yulia open her eyes and pay utmost attention. Shiv was hard to spook, if nigh impossible.

"Yes?" Kaamos leaned forward, his eyes intent as he prodded Shiv to continue.

Shiv shook of his apparent uneasiness and spoke, all in a rush, as if glad to be rid of the words.

"When the scout team woke, they saw the battlefield drenched in blood, pieces of bodies everywhere…Every Green was down…But all the Oranges that entered the fight came back out…"

Yulia sat back, chewing this news over. At the best this could mean that the Embryon had some kind of heavy weapon that induced blackouts…at worst, it wasn't either tribe's doing. But how could this hypothetical weapon knock out the entire Cohort, some distance away from the fight? Any way of looking at this wasn't a pleasant one, and Yulia's mood became darker and darker as the thoughts went round and round.

Shiv's sudden oath brought her attention outwards, and she stared at him. In response to the looks of his boss and the trapper, he raised his right hand so they could see the back of it. Stark against his pale skin, a black mark, shaped like a fanged moon; Shiv rubbed at it, and spoke, his voice oddly subdued.

"This is where it hurt, right before I passed out…"

Kaamos twisted so they could see the back of his neck.

"Do you see anything?" He sounded hopeful; more like he hoped not rather than hoping so.

Yulia, the closest to him, leaned forwards, and lifted back some of his hair. There was another mark, this one like a jagged, snarling cone. Settling back to her previous position, Yulia spoke with a heavy dread.

"Yeah…Yeah, you got one, too…"

Kaamos turned back, his face even paler than usual. He and Shiv both looked at Yulia, who pulled her scarf back and pulled the cloak aside, lifting her head up so they could better see her neck.

They leaned forwards, looked, and then sat back, faces grim. There, on the left side of her neck, was a black mark, shaped like a roaring spiral.

Shiv looked grim, Kaamos looked worried.

It was Shiv who spoke.

"You've got one, too…"

Kaamos blinked, obviously trying not to panic.

"What does this mean?"

Yulia decided it was about time to stand up, and she did, surprised that her legs didn't buckle.

"I don't know…"

Before she got much further, Jed stormed down the stairs, clutching onto the wall to keep upright.

"Boss, guys, we've got problems."


	4. Awakening

_Silver Rain – The Cohort _

_Digital Devil Saga_

_Digital Devil Saga, the scenario minus any original characters, and any canon characters, are © to Atlus  
Yulia/Garuda is © to myself  
Kaamos/Pandemonium is © Drcheerio of Deviantart  
Shiv/Morrigan is © Dimitrininjasan of Deviantart  
Jed/Vakirauta is © to his player  
All original characters not of my creation are used with express permission_

_Chapter Four – Awakening _

Yulia forced her eyes to focus on Jed's face.

"What kind of problems? If it's Embryon or Vanguards shaped, point me at 'em and I'll bloody the noses of the whole feckin' lot of 'em alone for this damned headache!"

Jed gave her an odd look, and opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before he managed to speak. The second time in a day she had seen her unflappable stealthers in a tizzy.

"It's not shaped like any bleedin' tribe, mate, it's shaped like…like, well, something not human!"

Kaamos yelped, and reached for his monster of a shotgun. A personal invention of his, this shotgun had six chambers. The precise mechanics were beyond anyone but Kaamos to understand. He checked the chambers and racked it.

Before he'd even picked up the shotgun, Yulia had drawn her revolver, already loaded, and a short, straight bladed knife, held in her other hand. The question of what it was or where it had come from could wait until it was dead.

She fixed her gaze, no sign of pain or fatigue in her bearing now, on Jed.

"Where?"

Jed snapped to attention, his uneasiness vanished at the crack of authority in that one word.

"Near the barracks. It was huge, and it moved wicked-fast. The lookout tried to get a bead on it, but it jumped right up at 'im and tore his face off before he could pull the trigger."

The newbie. It had killed their new scout. The loss hit with the force of a Brute's ham-fisted punch.

Yulia's face turned grim, and she motioned roughly for Shiv to pay attention.

"That bastard's gonna pay. Shiv, you take Jed, both of you're advance guard, try and take out the legs on this git, see if it jumps so pretty like with no knees. Kaamos will back you up. I'll go round up some more of our men, tell 'em to scout the perimeter. I don't want this thing getting out, or its mates getting in, got it?"

She didn't wait to hear the acknowledgments. With deft movements, she swept up the stairs, fixing her cloak once again to her torso armour, the scarf covering her hair, the goggles over her eyes. The advance team held her deepest trust; they'd do their damned best to achieve their goal. As she paused to draft a tribe member to the perimeter guard, Shiv, Jed, and Kaamos hurried past, Shiv carrying his sniper's rifle, Jed a hunting rifle as well as a long scope, and Kaamos, still with his shotgun as well as a net full of grenades.

The tribe member looked after them, before nodding at Yulia and scurrying off, gun already in one hand, the other lowering goggles over eyes. Turning to the main room of the headquarters, Yulia raised her voice and started shouting for her tribe to get their sorry assess out and to the perimeter. To their credit, they moved fast once the call had gone out. They'd learned the hard way to move fast when Yulia told them to. If they couldn't move faster than her, they'd have heck to pay when she caught them.

"Everyone, to formation Nihil! We have an unidentified nasty in the compound, and I don't want that bugger letting his mates in for a party on us, alright?!"

A stool was kicked over in the general exodus, but Yulia let it slide. It wasn't as if a rival tribe had ever gotten this far into Bezaid before, and besides, it was a newbie who'd let their excitement get the better of them and the stool. As the gangers trooped out, Yulia hooked the stool with one foot and righted it before following. Wouldn't want to trip over it later and besides, she liked it where it was.

Checking the silencer on her revolver as she stepped through one of the many doors leading to the maze like interior of the Cohort's headquarters and out into the sleeting rain, Yulia slipped into one of the plentiful shadows, melding herself into the cover of a low wall. A quick glance showed her where her tribe-mates were; only someone who knew what to look for would ever stand a chance of seeing them. The whole idea was that the Cohort was seen only by their allies; to all others, they were a silent death. Then she saw Kaamos, his white hair peeking out a little from his hood. Well, she amended; nearly all of us are silent death. Kaamos is more of a shocking, nasty death.

Shiv, perched atop a watch-tower, his sniper's rifle covered with mesh net and camo, caught her attention, and flashed a rapid series of hand signals at her before turning to Jed, who had materialised at his side, brining the sniper's attention to a target.

Yulia motioned two nearby gunners to move up, while she covered them. Shiv said he'd seen the tango in front of them, stationary. Yulia aimed to take them out, with Shiv firing to immobilize the target whilst the gangers finished it off. Kaamos clambered up to flank Yulia, moving louder then she'd like, but nonetheless appreciated. The two moved up, sliding into cover along with the other two gangers. Yulia inched enough of her head over to gain a visual, and it took Kaamos tugging on her arm to recall Yulia to her senses enough to retract her head again.

At Kaamos' mute question, all she could do was shake her head. What was that…thing? It had the basic shape of any ganger, but the size! It was monstrous, at least four heads taller than Jed, and Jed was freakishly tall. It had long, bloodstained claws, and its jaws were stained with crimson. Bodies…She could only assume they had once been bodies…Scattered, in pieces, all around it…

They had once been her tribe-mates, her comrades, her friends…

A single gesture and the head of the intruding murdering beastie suddenly parted with existence and became a gory, bloody mist that sank slowly to the ground. The body slumped, following soon after.

Yulia stood after a few more hand signals from Shiv confirmed no more hostiles.

"Well, that takes care of that…"

And then her neck exploded into white, hot pain, and she had a brief moment to think 'oh, bollocks', before it seemed her back exploded into fire and her legs buckled.


	5. Karma

_Silver Rain – The Cohort _

_Digital Devil Saga_

_Digital Devil Saga, the scenario minus any original characters, and any canon characters, are © to Atlus  
Yulia/Garuda is © to myself  
Kaamos/Pandemonium is © Drcheerio of Deviantart  
Shiv/Morrigan is © Dimitrininjasan of Deviantart  
Jed/Vakirauta is © to his player  
All original characters not of my creation are used with express permission_

_Chapter Five – Karma_

The feel of armour buckling, the flesh beneath tearing, blood rushing forth to stain claws bright crimson, the screams of terror as wind shrieked over wings that brought death and ruin. This was her true state of being, what she was always meant to be. Her life before her flight seemed to have been lived behind bars of a cage made of her own puny form. No longer, though. Now she commanded the skies, and all beneath her shadow quailed in terror. But now this train of thought had laid bare memories that for a time the wind had chased into hiding. Memories of whom and what she was before, and those she considered comrades. Slowly, a clawed hand loosened its grip on the bloody remains of one once human, dropping it to the roof upon whence the winged killer rested. The feel of hot blood coursing down her throat both completed and appalled her; on the one hand, she knew, somehow, like instinct, she had to feed upon the fallen, her prey, to retain any sense of control, and on the other…She knew that she had killed and devoured her own tribe-mates, and yes, she had revelled in the hunt. And she was supposed to be their leader, not their slaughterer! Spanning wide, white wings flecked with blood that even now was being washed away by the rain, she screamed, terror, horror, rage, fury, grief, all notes in that one wordless, wailing song.

Then, as her cry faded away, she heard answering howls, and without looking, she dropped from the roof, fanning her wings, and dropped to the ground. Before her stood blood-drenched figures surrounded by a backdrop of ruined bodies. Crimson dripped from jaws, and three eyeless faces turned to regard her as she furled her wings. Readying her claws, she opened her jaws and hissed; her recently discovered island of sanity swamped by a new wave of bloodlust, the need to tear into the flesh of the foe. One of the figures, a lithe, black winged form, dropped its hostile stance and retracted it claws. And then, red jaws opened, and words issued forth.

"Boss…?! What the…Is that you?"

She backed up a couple of steps, also dropping her wary pose. When she felt able to speak past the shock of revelation and recognition, as well as a faint queasiness, she did so, her voice sounding the same even though she spoke with a different form.

"Shiv? I don't think it would be too much to ask if you know what the bloody hell is going on now, would it?"

Shiv, or at least what Shiv had become, shrugged black armoured shoulders and jerked his head at the two…things flanking him.

"No hope there, boss. But guess what? I found our old buds; seems like ol' Jed got a mark, too, and now lookit 'im! Big as a tree and twice as ugly!"

A large figure, covered in rough, thick skin and with massive arms spoke up. It sounded like Jed; not many would even want to imitate the stealther's lazy pattern of speech, protesting that speaking thus would put them to sleep.

"Hey, you don't look much better, skinny." He paused, and then turned to Yulia. "What is a tree, anyway?"

The third, a towering figure clad in dull, matt silver plates piped up. This one was Kaamos.

"I dunno. They sound mighty ugly if they look anything like Jed though, poor things." He evidently felt secure in prodding Jed, seeing as how the two were now similar sizes.

Yulia spread a taloned hand in a gesture of impatience.

"Children! Quit yer bickering and tell me what in the name of Nirvana happened!"

All three of her underlings managed to look abashed even with the lack of eyes or recognisable features. Shiv spoke up, being the second in command and more used to dealing with the most-times unpredictable Yulia.

"Well, y'know that light I told you about earlier? The one that hit the Oranges and the Greens? I think the same kinda thing happened here. Before you say 'think? What in blazes do you mean 'think'?' I can only guess. We were knocked out cold, and then woke up like this. And then, uh…" He gestured at the blood and gore about him. "Shit happened."

Yulia sighed, the familiar motion feeling alien due to the extra muscles this form had developed to facilitate flight.

"'Shit' indeed…When I came too, I was in such a rage, I was all ready to knock your heads off soon as I saw you…Whatever those marks were, and whatever devilry this is, I don't think I much like it…" She looked at the carnage wrought by her own hands, the ones that had looked to her. "No, I don't really like it at all."

Kaamos shook his head, seeming to notice the carnage for the first time.

"I…Well, it wasn't your fault…Your hands, yea, but not your mind…I know how it felt…I felt it too…"

Jed remained silent, but with an air of unusually pensiveness. Shiv broke the ensuing silence.

"Gaaah, guess this means the blasted Temple will be hollerin' for us to attend a fancy-schmancy meetin'. Bugger."


End file.
